Side unloading freight car



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pm 7, W36., WJP. KELLETT ymg@ SIDE UNLOAADING FREIGHT CAR Filed Sept. 14, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 7, 1936 UNITED STATES SIDE UNLOADING FREIGHT CAR William Platts Kellett, New York, N. Y. Application September 14, 1929, Serial No. 392,551

6 Claims.

The principal objects of this invention are, to facilitate the handling of individual material and freight containers in loading and unloading same on to the railway car, and to ensure the securing of the containers from displacement while the car is in transit.

Another and important object is to provide means for materially assisting in the adaptation of standard freight cars in the transfer of L. C. L. freight, enabling it to be shipped from production point to final destination.

The principal features of the invention consist in the novel arrangement of roller supports upon the car deck which will facilitate the accurate placing of the containers, both on the car and on a receiving truck, and further in the novel construction and arrangement of means for locking the containers on the car deck against both longitudinal and lateral movement.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a freight car showing an open top container and a portion of a closed container thereon.

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of the car showing a side view of the containers mounted thereon.

Figure 3 is an enlarged part sectional detail of the means for securing the containers to the car and also showing a portion of the container and car structure.

Figure 4 is an enlarged elevational view of one corner of a container and the roller support therefor on the car deck, also the means for securing the containers in place.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the details illustrated in Figure 4.

It has been proposed to pack merchandise in containers which are placed upon a railway freight car for transportation from point to point and numerous forms of containers have been devised, some requiring to be placed in position in pockets or between walls on the transporting car by derricks, others being provided with roller supports enabling them to be rolled about.

The present invention has been devised to facilitate the handling of any of these types of containers.

In the application of the invention herein shown the deck l of the freight car 2 has mounted thereon an arrangement of rollers 3 which are located in spaced transverse rows across the car deck.

The rollers are carried on spindles 4 which are mounted transversely of the pockets 5 in the `5x5 blocks 6 which are preferably formed of cast iron,

said blocks being secured together at the ends by bolts l. The blocks extend across the deck of the car and are rigidly secured thereto by bolts l. With this built-up construction of roller units it will be seen that should any one of the roller units or blocks become damaged or require replacement this can be readily effected by removal of the connecting bolts 'l and deck bolts l of the particular unit and the change may be effected without disturbing the remaining units. l0 Further, this construction permits vertical adjustment between the various roller units to compensate for unevenness in the deck surface and a more balanced load condition on the rollers is enabled. l5 The rows of blocks 6 are preferably spaced apart a distance equal to the gauge of the metal skids 8, which extend from end to end of the bottom of the containers 9 and said skids are provided `with upwardly sloping shoes ll) which `project beyond the ends of the containers. As shown, the skids proper are preferably formed of heavy metal plate sloped upwardly at the projecting ends and rmly braced by securement to the correspondingly sloped bottoms of the shoes 25 vHl which preferably comprise heavy flanged castings or forgings bolted or riveted firmly to the container structure.

Some of the containers shown are provided with castor wheels ll which are mounted thereon a distance inside of the skids sufficient to easily clear the roller blocks In placing the containers upon the car, the skids 8 are brought into alignment with the rows r of rollers 3 and the sloping shoes lll enable the o ready mounting of the container upon the rollers 3. The container is then pushed into position on the car.

Mounted between the closely adjacent rows of roller blocks 6, adjacent to the ends of the rollers, are the blocks I2. These blocks are each formed with a pair of transverse rectangular guide slots I3 in which the lock bolts lil are slidably mounted.

A cover plate l5 extends over the guide slots 45 i3 and is formed with downturned flanges at the ends and the bolts i4 are each provided with projecting ends ifi which slide under the flanges while the body of the bolt operates within the guide slots a positive restricted distance. 50

A plurality of holes ll are diagonally arranged in the cover plate l5 and a pin I8 is adapted to be inserted through any one of the holes in the cover plate to pass through a corresponding hole in the lock bolt, the diagonal arrangement providing for short adjustments of the bolts.

The projecting ends I 6 of the lock bolts are adapted to engage the upright flange I9 of the keeper blocks 20 secured to the side walls of the containers and to overlap the horizontal flange portion of the same.

The blocks l2 are arranged in pairs at opposite sides of the car and are so spaced in relation to the keepers 20 mounted on the container sides in offset relation that the keepers will always come into alignment with the slidable bolts whichever way the containers are placed.

'I'here are a pair of bolts in each of the blocks l2 and one bolt in each block extends laterally in one direction and locks the adjacent container and as these blocks are arranged at opposite sides of the car and between the containers, the containers will be firmly secured in place from both lateral and longitudinal movement and the overlapping of the horizontal flange of member 20 by the bolts serves to limit the tilting of the containers.

A flanged casting 2l is secured midway of the length of the side of each container at the bottom edge and is provided with a projecting flange 22 which slidably engages under the flanged members 23 extending longitudinally between the block I2 at either side. The container is thus held securely from tilting sideways through 1ongitudinal shocks imparted to the car. It is not intended however, that the anges 22 and overlying flanged members 23 act to restrict movement of the container longitudinally of the car structure since it is desirable that the containers be capable of limited adjustment in the longitudinal direction of the car structure on initially positioning the container between the rugged adjustable locking bolts I6 and for this reason a slight clearance is preferably provided between the flanges 22 and members 23 in the longitudinal direction of the car, and they will thereby be relieved of longitudinal impact shocks.

The fastening blocks are connected together in pairs across the car by the channel bars 24, which thus provide extraordinary holding strength with the minimum of strain upon the individual stop members and the car structure.

Guide bars 25 are preferably provided on the side walls of the containers between the lock keepers 20, so as to provide a smooth rubbing face which will not catch upon any projecting portion of the car equipment in the placing of the container thereon.

The sides of the container which carry the keeper blocks 20 and guide bars 25 and which cooperate with the ends I6 of the lock bolts may be considered as the fore and aft ends of the containers when the latter are in their mounted position on the car deck.

In the use of this equipment the containers 9 are loaded in a suitable location, preferably in the warehouse. They are then either rolled or lifted directly on to the car.

It is not always possible to arrange the car in the exact location to place the container on to the car in true alignment but the arrangement of rollers 3 upon the deck of the car permits the containers being rolled into their properly aligned position between the fastener blocks with comparative ease, the skids 8 readily mounting the rollers and permitting lateral sliding movement on the contacting surface of the rollers in a direction longitudinally of the car structure to bring the containers into their proper relative position.

In placing the containers the bolts in the blocks l2 at one side of the car are arranged in the projecting position and the containers are arrested thereby when they roll into place. The other set are then operated to engage the opposite set of keepers, thus securely locking the container in place.

It will be understood that the blocks 6 containing the rollers 3 and the blocks l2 carrying the lock bolts, together with their tie bars 22, may be very readily placed in position upon any standard flat car and the car will thus be readily equipped for use in the handling of container freight car service.

What I claim as my invention is:-

l. A freight car having portable containers resting on the decks, said containers having guide bars on the fore and aft ends of the containers having lock keepers at the ends, blocks rigidly mounted on the car Ibetween said containers and each having a pair of transverse horizontal slots, flat bolts slidable only in the horizontal slots of said blocks, and removable locking pins securing said bolts in their extended positions abutting the fore and aft ends of the containers in locking relation to said lock keepers.

2. A side unloading freight car having portable containers provided with parallel, spaced, flat surfaced skids to facilitate placing and removal of the containers and the skidding thereof over floor surfaces, said containers being adapted to be arranged on the car deck with the skids disposed transversely thereof, means on the car deck for contacting said skids and being free of interlocking engagement therewith whereby the containers are permitted adjustment in transverse and longitudinal directions on the car deck and relative to each other for positioning purposes, and means presenting locking contact with the fore and aft ends only of the containers against horizontal and vertical displacement of the containers on the car deck and serving as the sole means of retaining the containers at rest on their skids against longitudinal and transverse thrusts, said latter means including a series of separate stop I abutments individually adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the car deck to intimately engage the fore and aft ends of the containers in heavy-duty thrust-opposing contact.

3. A side unloading freight car of the portable container type having broad flat surfaced skids on the container bottom adapted to extend in a direction transversely of the car deck for both sliding or rolling engagement over the width thereof with transversely arranged rows of substantially cylindrically faced support rollers carried by the car deck with their axes disposed longitudinally of the said deck, whereby said roller supports have no definite positioning influence on said containers and thereby relieving the said supports of abnormal thrust strains, and holding means co-operating with the fore and aft ends of said containers and representing the sole means for retaining the skids on said deck rollers against longitudinal and transverse shifting.

4. A side unloading freight car as claimed in 4 skids on the underside for arrangement transversely of the car deck, rollers mounted in fixed positions on the deck of said car in rows extending transversely of said deck and engaging said skids, means for locking the containers from movement on said rollers, and roller supports mounted on said containers inwardly of said skids and supported by said skids and rollers entirely, clear of the car deck when the container is in mounted position thereby preventing scrub bing or wearing action between the container roller supports and the car deck and relieving the container rollers of all strain in transit, said container rollers having their lower periphery disposed at a lower level than the lower rollerengaging surface of said skids to permit rolling of the container on an available floor surface with the skids clear thereof.

6. Freight transportation means as claimed in claim 3 in which said holding means comprises keeper blocks secured to the fore and aft ends of the containers adjacent the outer side thereof and presenting vertical and horizontally disposed locking flanges, and locking members adjustable relative to said car and overlapping said respective locking flanges and abutting the ends of the containers whereby said containers are supported against tilting and transverse and longitudinal horizontal displacement on said deck rollers.

WILLIAM PLATTS KELLE'I'I'. 

